Research portfolio (U20: P1, M1 U24: P1)
Learning Outcome 1 (U20): Know how existing advertising campaigns embed advertisements across a range of media products
Learning Outcome 1 (U24): Understand the products that are produced within and across media industries
Doritos- "make your play" campaign (2021)
image: https://cdn.8thwall.com/images/apps/featured/2tashbhvbyuz89t295ue7p45263g77bwlpf63eunqznpxotrcgicsin9-540x960
Aims and objectives
Doritos released a new campaign in 2021, the campaign was all around London and promoted the brand to any potential customers within the area as well as any who viewed the campaign on social media. Interestingly, the advert was posted on billboards, buses, video ads, and social media posts which allowed the campaign to be widely consumed on a range of platforms and ultimately created awareness for the brand. Additionally, the brand said its aim was to "encourage shoppers to approach life in a more playful, self-expressive way" I believe this meant the brand was trying to rebrand its products to appeal to a new demographic. Significantly, the company's primary aim was to increase brand awareness and appeal to a new demographic, perhaps individuals who enjoy music. Furthermore, the brand is promoting the idea of music through the word 'Play', the visual imagery of the triangle suggests a play button used to listen to music on streaming platforms as well as the shape of the product. In addition, Doritos aimed to boost recognition for the brand and raise interactivity with customers by including an interactive QR code on billboards across London. By completing this objective, they were able to gain awareness for the business by encouraging recipients to speak about the campaign, promoting it further. This will ultimately help to increase revenue, connecting a filter and the chance to win concert tickets to the QR code is likely to appeal to music listeners who appear to be the group the business is targeting.
Target audience
The target audience for this campaign was primarily students (16-22), this can be clearly seen in the video advertisement which represents the audience they are hoping to entice. Moreover, the video advert featured university-aged students consuming the products in various scenes on a university campus, the video showcased the product and implied that eating the Dorito made the students have a better experience in their university lives. Furthermore, Doritos are considered to be on the cheaper side of the spectrum at only £2 a bag (180g) and therefore would likely appeal to students who may have a very limited level of disposable income available. Interestingly, Doritos are food and therefore don't target any specific gender or race, allowing the business to gain a higher level of revenue by appealing to everyone. Further to this, the music theme of the campaign is likely to create a reputation for the snack within the community and therefore suggests Doritos are targeting this group to possibly expand into. Doritos can be considered a simple, on-the-go snack and therefore are likely to appeal to a community of people who are stereotypically 'on the go'.
Key messages
The key message Doritos was trying to convey in this campaign was that eating their product would allow you to lead a more fun and interesting life. Interestingly, the campaign suggested to customers that the product would allow them to gain the confidence and inspiration to take risks and enjoy a more playful life. Furthermore, the brand was trying to convey the message to a young target audience and therefore used an idea that they could easily relate to, helping to increase awareness and overall sales for the business.
image: screenshot from my personal Instagram.
Approach
The brand primarily used social media to gain awareness for the campaign, Doritos posted several videos on their Instagram promoting the campaign to an online audience who might not have seen the campaign due to location limitations. Furthermore, the campaign has used unknown brand ambassadors to achieve an overall focussed effect, not recognizing the actors within the videos allows customers to focus on the campaign and its message instead of who the actor is and the connotations which may accompany them. For instance, if a well-known celebrity were to promote the campaign, it's likely people will have pre-existing opinions on the celebrity and therefore might miss the message being conveyed within the campaign. In addition, the advertisement promoted live music where individuals could scan the billboards and posters as a chance to win tickets to live music events. Users who scanned the code were directed to a website that presented a button leading customers to a page for their chance to win a ticket, the business worked with a company to create this interactive QR code/filter, and all other adverts within the campaign promoted this feature. Interestingly, this promoted the campaign further as people grew excited with the chance to win something free and therefore could speak about it with friends and family, creating additional awareness for the brand. Further, the offer to win these tickets acted as somewhat of an endorsement for Doritos as it can be understood that the partnership between the business and the artist is a positive one. Subsequently, this can be interpreted as the artist supporting and enjoying the product, promoting it further. In each of the videos on their social media page, a sponsored individual completed a mundane task, and when taking a bite of the Dorito they were transported to an exciting activity. Significantly, the campaign gained attention in this way which increased overall awareness for the brand, helping the business to gain a better reputation and more customers.
The 'make your play' campaign was released in the summer of 2021, the brand wanted to encourage people to get back out into social scenes after the pandemic. The brand used live music events in partnership with its campaign to entice people not only to interact with the campaign but also to get back to their normal lives and become more adventurous. Additionally, the brand was targeting primarily a younger audience who may have missed out on this experience over the lockdown period, they wanted this audience to experience a live music event and therefore created a scannable QR code that enabled them a chance to win tickets for free. The limited money possessed by this age group presented limitations for experiences, by eliminating this restriction allowed many people to enjoy these 'must have' experiences and ultimately gained Doritos a positive reputation. In addition, the campaign could be accessed through posters and billboards across the UK as well as social media links, these forward-thinking methods of promotion allowed the brand to appeal to the desired audience. Finally, the events advertised took place over the summer not long after the tickets had been claimed which improved the reputation further as those who won tickets and went to the events could go online to further promote the reliability of the brand.
The image above is a screenshot from the Instagram hashtag '#makeyourplay' where customers further promoted the campaign and explained to others their chances to win tickets to live music events.
Call to action
The campaign ran for 6 weeks over the summer period of 2021 and was majorly successful, achieving all the aims Doritos had set out to accomplish. The contest was well marketed and people were excited to take part, all the tickets available were claimed and the competition was a huge success. The marketing director at PepsiCo, Doritos parent company, said we wanted to "engage fans who have been at home the past year" which clearly displays the intentions of the campaign which was to simply give back to the community, encourage them to enjoy life and boost the businesses reputation whilst doing so. Overall I would deem this campaign a success, it achieved increased brand awareness, boosted its reputation, and allowed people to 'hit play' on life and get over the devastating pandemic.
Relevant legal and ethical issues
An ethical issue surrounding this campaign was the campaign itself, while many people were excited at the re-introduction of live music events, others thought this action was irresponsible and shouldn't be promoted on a large scale. The main focus of this campaign was getting people back to regular living by attending a music festival, many individuals had complaints regarding this as they felt unsafe attending a concert while a virus was still spreading around and some restrictions were still in place. The campaign set out to gain a positive reputation from its target audience and while it was successful in doing so, other audiences created a negative reputation for the brand by labelling the campaign 'irresponsible' and 'selfish'. In addition, the brand tried encouraging people to 'un-pause' life and get back to normal living, while the restrictions did allow for this at the time many people still felt too unsafe and therefore boycotted the festival and slashed the reputation of any businesses involved.
Another issue people might find with this campaign is not winning tickets. Doritos have covered any legal issues presented with this issue by clearly stating "a chance" to win tickets, making it clear to the audience that there is no guarantee. However, people who don't win a prize might be disappointed and could ruin the brand's reputation by writing negative reviews and putting others off of competing in the contest.
In addition, a legal issue surrounding the campaign could've been the somewhat misleading actions seen in the video. The main character portrayed in the video advertisement seemed to gain superpowers after taking a bite, in the fourth scene he bounces off a trampoline and reaches his friend who is on a balcony three stories up. Interestingly, most people will recognize the special effects used here and use rationality to reach a conclusion that Doritos will not give you superpowers. However, some young, impressionable children viewing the ad might not realize and therefore attempt this stunt which will ultimately place them in a position of great danger. Moreover, this can pose a liability to Doritos as they can be seen as the cause of children attempting this stunt and failing so they will need to ensure to put a disclaimer on the ad to avoid the risk of a potential lawsuit.
Regulatory bodies
The campaign was run across Western European channels after it was approved by the ASA and OFCOM, the advert ran on TV for about 6 weeks over the summer and there weren't many direct complaints. Significantly, there is no evidence that the advert was reported for any offensive conduct, therefore the ASA and OFCOM weren't required to carry out an investigation into the TV ad. In addition, the advert didn't challenge any ASA and OFCOM rules, it didn't mislead viewers in any way and it didn't explicitly offend anyone/group, hence the lack of complaints.
Websites I used
https://www.asa.org.uk/about-asa-and-cap/about-regulation/about-the-asa-and-cap.html
https://www.8thwall.com/poplar/doritosxdice
https://motherlondon.com/work/doritos-make-your-play/
https://poplar.studio/case-studies/doritos-make-your-play/#
https://marketingtechnews.net/news/2021/jul/07/doritos-launches-augmented-reality-summer-campaign/
http://www.marketingmo.com/strategic-planning/marketing-campaigns/
https://www.foodnewsnews.com/news/who-is-the-target-audience-for-doritos/
Ocean's 8 campaign (2018)
image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeXT2TdUwAAE4Qg.jpg
The aim of marketing for this movie was to gain awareness and meet the standard set for the movie. Ocean's 8 is the fourth Ocean's movie to be released by the franchise, while the plot has the same concept, the cast had been completely renewed and many fans of the original movies were likely to have a cause for concern. Interestingly, the original movie had an excellent reputation and much of the cast had gone on to act in many more movies and became very famous from Ocean's 11 (the first movie). The casting directors for the movie knew they had to choose actresses that had well-established careers and were generally liked by the public or else they would have received tremendous backlash. In addition, using big names in acting allowed the movie to gain an increased fan base as each actress brought a different fandom to the movie by further promoting the film on their social media pages as well as through interviews on a variety of talk shows. Significantly, the first trailer was released in December of 2017, 6 months prior to the release of the movie, this allowed marketing to build excitement and suspense for the film to understand how it was going to be perceived by the target audience before the release date. Finally, the campaign was released as a way to increase sales for the business, by creating awareness through the celebrity stars of the film it enabled the movie to have an increased number of viewers. Moreover, if the movie was enjoyed by the audience it would persuade them to recommend it to others, online and elsewhere, and hopefully re-watch the film several times which would increase sales as well as help streaming platforms recognize the worth of the movie.
Target audience
The target audience for this film was anyone aged 12 or above, the age rating was 12 and therefore anyone underage wouldn't be able to view it without permission from a guardian. Interestingly, the primary target audience was females aged 12-50 and this is displayed through the characters portrayed in the movie. The movie presents a diverse range of women of several ages and races, allowing a wider target audience to identify and relate to who they see on the screen, people enjoy having a representation of themselves in a movie and this further encourages them to purchase a ticket and enjoy the film. Additionally, the younger audience is more likely to be enticed to view the movie through celebrity appearances as they use social media more frequently and thus understand the magnitude of the stars in the film. While older generations might appreciate the plot, the younger generations are more likely to enjoy the plot, as well as the celebrity, features hence the reason the campaign features the cast very prominently. Overall, the movie tried to appeal to all audiences by continuing the infamous plot and using big stars to further gain approval from any objecting individuals.
Key messages
The key message conveyed in the Ocean's 8 campaign was the continuation of the original movie, the trailer featured scenes that had been mirrored, clearly stating the film's intentions to recreate/ continue the legacy of the original movie. Interestingly, the franchise has an exceptional reputation and a very beloved fan base, while the next movie in the series should gain this same fan base it was more difficult to convince fans to get on board. Furthermore, the first movies had a very iconic and recognizable cast so when the gender-swapped cast appeared on trailers and billboards many fans were shocked and some, disappointed. However, many pre-existing and new fans- grew excited to watch the film due to the celebrity cast appearing on screen with the same general plot fans had grown to love.
image: screenshot taken from my personal Instagram account.
The movie primarily used celebrity endorsement in conjunction with social media to promote the movie to its target audience. Interestingly, the target audience for the movie are individuals who are avid social media users and therefore marketing on these platforms enables the movie to gain maximum attention. There were 8 main roles in the movie, each portrayed by a well-established actress, so each actress posted an image of a poster promoting the film on their social media page which gained awareness for the film on a massive scale- fans were thrilled. In addition to each actress posting on their social media, the movie created an account on Instagram specifically to market the film, here they posted teasers, prompts, and scannable Snapchat filters. Significantly, the social media posts gained so much attention that fans began to post their own promoters using the hashtag "#ocean's8" which enabled the campaign to reach an even larger audience, resulting in international recognition for the movie. Further to the social media campaigning taking place, each actress went onto a different talk show sometime before and after the film aired to promote it to a different audience, perhaps the slightly older demographic who watch the talk shows. Interestingly, each of the talk shows would gain millions of viewers consequently gaining additional awareness for the film from a secondary or even tertiary target audience.
Representation
Ocean's 8 represents a range of women from different backgrounds and ethnicities. The film indirectly addresses the sexist stereotype that many of the fans had concerns about, fans believed that women were less coordinated than men and therefore would look ridiculous attempting to pull off a heist as high stakes as this one. Interestingly, the film featured many scenes of skills and coordination throughout the campaign in both the trailers and social media teasers, eliminating the stereotype and assuring fans with concerns that women could play this role just as well as men. Furthermore, the movie features a range of women from different lifestyles, one woman involved with the heist- Sarah Paulson- appears to have a somewhat 'normal' and stereotypical life, living with her nuclear family. However, when offered the chance to partake in criminal activities for a large sum of money, she leaves her family to go on a 'business trip' and the audience begins to discover the range of skills this typical mum obtains. Additionally, each member of the cast begins the movie to be somewhat of a regular woman but when offered the money shows their true colours sending them down a path of deceit.
image: https://i.insider.com/5b1ad2665e48ec1a008b45e9?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp
Campaign logistics
image: screenshot from google images
Print: The image here has been screenshotted from Google Images. Interestingly, the campaign used many billboards to promote the film, these billboards were displayed in major cities to attract the maximum level of attention. Each billboard featured the name of the film, the release date, the names of each actress starring in the film, and photos of the actresses in character. Furthermore, the simplicity of the billboard allows viewers to clearly recognize the message being conveyed in the campaign which is promoting the new film and continuing the legacy of the franchise. Additionally, these billboards were primarily found in big cities across America but there were many in the UK- specifically London- too as a way to widen the target consumer.
image: screenshot from Instagram
Social Media: Members of the cast went on various talk shows and YouTube interviewing platforms to discuss the movie and promote both themselves and the film to the target audience, who were likely to watch these videos. Additionally, Ocean's 8 Instagram page posted clips of these interviews to entice viewers to watch the full interviews, an example of a partnership promoting both businesses. In addition to these teaser clips, the cast posted billboard signs and trailer clips on their personal social media pages to ensure each of their individual fan bases was aware of the movie and grew excited about its release. Significantly, fans saw these social media features and became ecstatic with the idea that their favourite celebrities would be starring in a new film in the coming months, many reposted and shared these with friends and family ultimately increasing overall awareness for the movie.
Video: The video advertisement was shared across several social media platforms and before films in cinemas for several weeks before the release. Significantly, the video featured scenes from the movie and told a brief story of how it would play out, leaving out any major plot lines to ensure viewers were left wondering to encourage them to watch the entire film. Finally, the trailer featured an upbeat song accompanied by suspenseful sound effects to reinforce the unknown theme of the film, leaving viewers in anticipation for the release.
Call to action
At the end of this campaign the marketing team collected and measured the results and found they were wildly successful in generating attention for the movie with 385million impressions, 30million reaches, and 5million engagements (https://digitalmediamanagement.com/work/oceans-8/) they were able to boost awareness for the movie and increased the overall viewership. Marketing for a movie as large as this one is essential to the success of the film, without the marketing team generating a buzz in the media, the film would go unrecognized and could ultimately fail due to a lack of sales. Significantly, the movie was a raging success, making $297.7 million in gross profit across the locations it had been released in. Furthermore, the movie had been well executed and fans were thrilled with the outcome, ultimately persuading many to write positive reviews regarding the film on review websites and social media platforms. Interestingly, the mass quantity of positive reviews enabled the movie to gain additional awareness and encourage further viewing from new customers as well as those who returned to cinemas. Finally, the film was so popular that Netflix and HBO approached the creators to gain the streaming rights to release the film on their platforms, while the film was available on Netflix for some time it has recently been removed, but allowing Netflix to air the film helped the franchise gain massive levels of awareness and increased profits.
Relevant legal and ethical issues
One relevant legal issue the creators of the film had to overcome was obtaining the rights to the Met Gala as well as the Metropolitan museum location. Interestingly the film director, Gary Ross, wanted an authentic Met Gala to be portrayed on screen as a way to gain additional attention for the film. Furthermore, the Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour was very apprehensive about the idea as she wanted to ensure all standards were met to maintain the reputation of her gala. The film director sat with Anna in many meetings to negotiate terms and gain the rights to this essential plot- point for the movie, after many negotiations Anna agreed and even made a cameo in the film.
Additionally, the location of the gala is set in the Metropolitan Museum Of Art and the film creators wanted to keep the authenticity going by filming in this location. However, there are many highly expensive and irreplaceable items on display in the museum and therefore gaining the filming rights would be a difficult task. Significantly, the film director had meetings with the directors of the museum and reached an agreement, they were able to use the location for 10 days between the hours of 16:30pm-03:00am. The filming team at Ocean's 8, had many safety meetings to design, filming plans and strategies as the angles could be rigid which restricted the view of the camera, they didn't want to move any items within the shooting location however as this could risk an additional cost which would have been massively over budget for the film. Ultimately, the team worked very cautiously and the outcome was seamless, allowing the audience to feel the authenticity and further enjoy their viewing experience.
Regulatory bodies
The film and campaign followed all the regulations set by both ASA and OFCOM, it was aired on TV and in cinemas for several weeks. For instance, a rule set by ASA is "Advertisements must be prepared with a sense of responsibility to the audience and to society." this ruling has been adhered to by the campaign as while it does promote the idea of criminal activity, it also includes the consequences accompanying these actions. Interestingly, the film suggests the unrealistic aspects of the activities taking place on several occasions to reinforce the seriousness of their actions and ensure younger viewers that what is taking place on screen is wrong. Furthermore, by reinforcing this idea, the campaign was deemed fit for TV and didn't challenge any of the rulings set by ASA or OFCOM.
Websites I used
https://www.asa.org.uk/static/uploaded/70514bc9-2b30-47d1-bc726b17c7745148.pdf
https://www.asa.org.uk/type/broadcast/code_section/01.html
https://www.vulture.com/2018/06/how-oceans-8-got-anna-wintour-to-re-create-the-met-gala.html
https://cinematicslant.com/2018/06/07/oceans-8-marketing-recap/
http://www.marketingmo.com/strategic-planning/marketing-campaigns/
https://www.instagram.com/oceans8movie/?hl=en
- Billboards
- Leaflets
- Posters
- Radio-ads
- TV adverts
- Social media posts
- Social media pop-up ad
- Magazine adverts
- Email advertising
- Sponsorships
image: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/582c2f8403596e2e3330dd91/1626280405749-LJY7XMRVZAWV1D9QJWRP/6.jpg?format=500w
The campaign's target audience is a wide range of people and therefore the organisation needs to use a variety of platforms in order to gain mass exposure for the campaign. Interestingly, Doritos have used social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to market their product and appeal to a wide range of audiences for a more global scale campaign. Using social media allows the brand to interact more with audiences and understand consumer needs through story polls on Instagram as well as measuring likes and comments on different types of posts to determine what is most popular.
Furthermore, traditional methods of advertising have been used in the campaign to gain more awareness for the brand within particular areas but still gain large audiences. For instance, bus and train stations have posters for the campaign as audiences here are likely customers for the product and will help gain mass awareness for the campaign as many people use public transport. In addition, audiences can engage with the campaign through the QR codes featured on the posters which will help them learn more about the campaign through the website/ social media accounts.
How institutions create a brand across media platforms- Ocean's 8
The Ocean's 8 franchise uses bold red colours and images of the cast in all elements throughout the campaign to capture mass audience attention. The colour palette implies the genre of the film and helps it to appear exciting while the cast photos help promote the film through a type of endorsement due to their celebrity status. Ensuring these elements feature across the campaign helps create a form of consistency and links so audiences can grasp the overall message of the campaign. In addition, the name of the brand 'Ocean's 8' as well as the three tag lines/ slogan used (Every con has its pros. The plan is priceless. This much fun should be criminal.) all appear multiple times throughout the campaign to instil a common message for the film and further promote the genre. Finally, the advertisements use a common font throughout, the font is simple and the letters appear bold and straight, helping to not distract too much from the wider message and other important elements within the advert. Using this font throughout will help create brand recognition and ensure audiences are aware of the entire campaign.
image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdWttcZU0AAPboE.jpg
How are audiences reached/ engaged- Ocean's 8
Ocean's 8 have been successful in reaching audiences through active social media campaign posts such as the use of teaser clips, interviews and trailers. The film has many famous actresses so they are able to further endorse the project through personal social media accounts to widen audience reach and entice fans to support the film. Additionally, audiences have engaged with the campaign by posting about the upcoming release and reacting to teaser and trailer clips to further increase awareness and promote the film. The traditional advertising methods have helped reach audiences by gaining mass exposure as these billboards appear in popular locations such as above major roads and busy attractions such as Leicester Square to help gain awareness. Interestingly, the social media adverts will help target younger audiences as they are more likely to be users of these platforms and therefore will see and share these posts within the app. However, for instance, Facebook is primarily used by millennials and older generations so this platform might better target this audience whereas the younger audience will become aware of the film through Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Furthermore, the billboard, print, and more traditional methods of advertising which the campaign uses will help gain a secondary target audience by exploiting mass exposure and overall widening the campaigns reach.
image: screenshot from Instagram
image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/bf/9e/31bf9e95bd0d77dee9a17c1fa4e13414.jpg
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